Jimmy Choo Special

We see it regularly, a lot of the fashion being manufactured today is totally unwearable and impractical for the normal glam chiq on the go – but Jimmy Choo designs are quite the opposite. What we particularly love about the label is the rare combination of the very simple, super elegant and amazing quality that goes into the products. The company was launched in 1996 by the British Vogue editor Tamara Mellon and her partner in crime, the very skilled craftsman, and Malaysian born couture shoe maker Jimmy Choo. Jimmy Choo himself is not directly involved in the shoe design these days, but assigned Sandra Choi as Creative Director since the launch. The company specialize in shoes, bags and purses/envelope bags. The company now have their own shops in London, New York, Las Vegas, Beverley Hills, Dallas, Orlando, Moscow, Kuwait, Hong Kong and Korea. There are also, another eighty retail outlets globally. Stockholmers can get hold of Jimmy Choo at Marzio. The Jimmy Choo collection can also be purchased over the internet at sites such as - Net-a-Porter and Gina Shoes. Shop Copper Penny are listed as one of the online retailers, and although we haven’t found any Jimmy Choo products yet, it may still be worth a visit anyway.

Luxury is a necessity that begins where necessity ends. - Coco Chanel

Vanity Quiz

Go check out Get Lippy's "How vain are you-Quiz"! With results indicating as low as 59% vanity perhaps we should start treating ourselves...?

T is for Tasteless...

Clearly they got things a little bit mixed up - C is for Crap, S is for Sad, B is for Bollocks, D is for Don't, N is for Not in a Million Years, etc.

Nice Beaver!

Get ahead, get a hat, coolchiq says! When it's a fact that we're having to get used to heavy snow in Mallorca, we should all be prepared. But this is no easy task to fulfil - the combination of keeping warm AND looking super fantastic is always a problem. Particularly if you, like us, refuse to wear un-stylish bob hats. This pink Russian leather hat with mink may not be the best political choice for everyone. But it is for us.

The Weekend Deal/Paint the Town Red!

Red, comfy Asics and rusty red Casadei Sherling Hobo bag. What else could a coolchiq need? It's a strong, happy number for this weekend. The outfit visualises a long, heavenly shopping trip coming up tomorrow. Shops - be prepared, the coolchiqs are coming to town in Stockholm!

Way to Go

You can now reach coolchiq via the following web addresses -
www.coolchiq.com
www.coolchiq.blogspot.com

Shoe Gems for Women?

These days we're expecting a lot from shoe design. Whether it's a pair of high heeled stilettos for a glam evening out, some comfy slippers for home wear, a pair of trainers for the jog, or funky sandals for a cool summer walk. Whatever the occasion, the shoes are one of the most crucial parts of our wardrobe. And this shows in every little detail. We've seen the results in Chrisitan Lacroix's amazing numbers from the Paris runways recently.

But how do we jazz up a pair of average sneakers to stand out from the rest of the shoe world? Well, unless they're already jazzy and fun, the shoe gem is the answer. A shoe gem is a piece of jewellery, supposed to be placed on the shoe/shoe lace as a beautiful decoration. Annoyingly, there seems to be only men's shoe gems out there today - but coolchiq says, watch this space!! These particular shoe gems come in 18ct gold, silver or white gold and cost (for a golden pair) £260. But, no doubt we won't have to spend that much, as the High Streets will surely take this on. The risk with the gem is that we won't be able to resist wearing our newly gemmed up shoes from now on.

Haute-Couture Continues -

Paris, 25 January - Chanel’s selection of spring couture was one that made us think of pale water colour paintings and Amish clothing. In other words, rather tame and old fashioned. Despite this, we can always rely upon Chanel’s wonderfully classy, knitted skirt and jacket suits. Today we put our faith in master Lagerfeld, as the current Style Director of the company. Let's hope that master Karl is not an indicator of the forthcoming future for Chanel. The interesting fact about Chanel, is that it has it’s own unique clientelle, totally devoted to the label. Results such as the Paris spring/summer 2005 show, will surely not put these committed chiqs off. Sadly we were.

If Chanel was pale water colours, Christian Lacroix definitely made it clear he was not. Strong colours and crumpled details, and a lot of feminine, frilly-hemmed skirts and dresses. The fancy hair-dos were impressive looking, a bit over the top a la usual run way, but that’s what we’re paying for and expecting to see. We love the red dress, pictured as number 12 in the slide show. It’s a gem, isn’t it?

Haute-Couture Spring/Summer 2005

Paris, 24 January - Lucky invites were able to see the opening of Giorgio Armani, Stephane Saunier, Christian Dior, Maurizio Galante, Adeline Andre and Valentino’s Haute Couture womens spring colletion 2005. The 70 year old Armani took on the challenge with a collection of 31 evening oufits. From what we saw, there was just one un-wearable dress after another. But all will be shipped to Hollywood. Undoubtedly to celebrities with pre-bookings.
John Galliano for Christian Dior opened up the Dior show in a refreshingly alternative way. Gone was the run way and the spotlights... Instead of the runway, there was a set recalling Andy Warhol's Factory with a stack of TV monitors, a live band channeling the Velvet Underground and Marianne Faithfull. Valentino’s theme was “around the world in 37 days. He pictured this as a travelogue slide show, complete with sound effects - a bullring, a desert, the Parthenon and Kew Gardens. The designer's point, was that haute couture now is an entirely global affair". (editor’s note: is this a new thing...??)

All throughout today's busy agenda in Paris, the turn has been Chanel’s, Marc Le Bihan’s, Christian Lacroix’s and Laurent Merciel’s go to show off their latest design. We’re dying to read the reports on Chanel's show tomorrow!

Tomorrow’s schedule starting at 11.00am at Le Lido, Champs-Elysées. Franck Sorbier opens up followed by Jean Paul Gaultier, Dominique Sirop, Jean-Louis Scherrer, On Aura Tout Vu, and Elie Saab. What are the odds of seeing white/navy stripes from Jean Paul, do we think?

The Budget Deal

It's always challenging to limit our shopping allowance. The day (or week, rather) before payday is the most difficult time of the month. Shopping on a budget makes it difficult. Although, having said that, there's a few gems we've found that we really liked...
Floppy hat, River Island, £16.99
Faux Croc shoes, River Island, £49.99
Sonny Cowl Neck Poncho, Monsoon, £60
Wide plaited leather belt, Accessorize, £22

A Touch of Sea

Sometimes Jimmy Choo and his mates surpass themselves. The mind blowing bag and shoes are his work. Matthew Williamson makes this miracle light metallic coral-green leather belt with the agate stone. All available through Net-a-Porter. Did we mention our birthday coming up soon...?

Tartan Clan Fan

One of the many things that fascinates us about Burberry, is their change of image over the years. Not long back, it was all british country style, all proper (albeit rich), but not particularly foxy. Burberry was perhaps mostly associated with good quality and pricey products. Anyone that recalls Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs Kramer from 1973, knows what image the Burberry coat had at that time. "I've always wanted a Burberry coat", Hoffman said. Later in the film, he's seen wearing his much longed for trench. Much later in real life, Kate Moss was one of the key contributors to the image-change. From having used campaign models like Stella Tennant , Camilla Rutherford, and Karen Elson pictured as pretty, well off librarians, we were all quite happy to see Kate bringing in a little bit more attitude to the pictures. Naomi Campbell and Liberty Ross likewise.

Burberry-Prorsum offers an absolutely gorgeous selection of bags this spring. It's one that looks totally unique from their previous style, and we're all in awe!! Don't miss it!

14 Ways to talk the Lingo

For any coolchiq, the justifications for shopping are endless. But sometimes we need to reveal to the unfortunate non-coolchiqs what the life of a coolchiq is actually about. Often we have found ourselves in situations where we’d have to justify the purchases infront of others. Totally unfair of course, but we don’t want to end up in awkward situations. The key to this is preparation, chiqs! When in Rome, do as the Romans do. In other words, tell them what they want to hear…
- To the miser husband: I’ll also get some lingerie. Just for you darling….
- To the square economist: If I don’t maintain the turnover in my wardrobe, the asset value will decrease…
- To the busy bank Manager: It’ll turn my wages up and increase the bank’s revenue…
- To the big boss: It would be good to promote the company image at the conference next week. So I’ll just expense it…
- To the IT manager: But Julien McDonald makes the best bags to protect your computer equipment…
- To the florist: I really needed something to match this dress….
- To the envious friend: I have been so down lately, I needed to chear myself up…
- To the concerned mother: You too looked really amazing in the 60’s. You’re my fashion hero…
- To the confused father: What’s a tortoise? You know what a turtle is..? Same thing…
- To the little sister: I’ll lend you this oufit! Honest…
- To the teenage, money conscious son: I’ll increase your pocket money soon…
- For the soon-to-go-on-holiday-couple: I need these strappy sandals to stay cool…
- For the On-holiday-couple: I didn’t bring that dress which would have been perfect tonight….
- To the doctor: Doctor, I don't feel well. And retail therapy is the only answer...

The Weekend Deal

No worries! We should be able to do all the shopping streets of Stockholm in these Fendi Silleria sneakers. And the bag below from Antikbatik gest the most important task to hold the new investments. It's a win - win situation!!!

Update: the canvas swan bag could be viewed in more detail here.

Le Cas du Sac

We mustn’t miss Hermes’ terrific sounding exhibition Le Cas du Sac on at Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. The exhibition presents a Nirvana of handbags from every origin and handicraft. Supposedly it “proves that a bag and its contents add up to form a highly revealing portait of their owner.” (Ok, that's enough - we didn't ask to be analyzed...).

Still on until 20 February, so there's still plenty of time to book a weekend in Paris!

coolchiq travels to 1970

Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin both die at the age of 27. IBM introduce the floppy disc. Atari produce the first computer game. Richard Nixon is US president. Ingemar Stenmark and Bjorn Borg are 14 years old. Record of the Year in America is "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In". The Beatles release the album "Let it Be". Ozzy Osbourne, aged 22, releases his debut album with Black Sabbath. Elvis keeps on expanding (literally) and produces "Suspicious Minds". Ryan O'Neil and Ally MacGraw become celebrities through the film Love Story. M.A.S.H. hits the box office. A year later ABBA would form. coolchiq is not yet born.

Clinique is running an early start of the 3-steps-system, including the Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion. 35 years later, still with the same design, they introduce Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel. Some things never go out of style!

Golden Gadgets

Office equipment and gadgets for coolchiqs are definitely under focused. This is why we're so pleased to find these two sites that we really like. Shiny shiny - A girls guide to gadgets where the focus is as much techno as it is cool appearance and attitude. The fact that it's a gadget site aiming for girls is quite evident in the attractive layout of the website. Popgadget is another site that anyone - male or female - will enjoy. Again, produced for chiqs and looks brilliant! Popgadget covers a wider range of gadgets than Shiny Shiny, but both sites attract our attention. There is of course Gizmodo and Engadget, but not by near as fun (note - most of the editors are men). The sites have on average over 200 000 visitors/day, so they're obviously popular. But Gizmodo and Engadget won't get many browny points from us.

So, why have a separate girl gadget site, as opposed to a unisex site, some might wonder. The answer to that is quite simple - we expect the presentation to be appealing, so much so that it should be of the same high level of quality as the product itself. We want to be seduced by the product even at the early stage of entering the website. Peter Davidson has some strong points in his view on "thinking about women and technology". And, obviously design-wise, products which appeal to pointy-headed techno-nerd-geeks (and we know a few, don't we girls?) don't necessarily appeal to stylish City chiqs like us!

PS. coolchiq is totally seduced by the Ladybird USB key, introduced by Shiny Shiny. Do we have to mention that it matches the Gucci shoes below? Uncanny....

Golden Eye

It's never been a secret that coolchiq's favourite fashion house is Gucci. Their usual clean, sophisticated lines, combined with subtle colours, have become a classic. It's difficult to find equals worth mentioning in the same manner. Every season we find details in their collection that stand out because of their uniqueness. These devine golden shoes are a great example of this. They have been chosen from Gucci's online store, new for the spring season collection. The evening bag with braided silk tassel handle and studded frame is the ultimate answer, balancing the extreme glamour of the shoes, but without loosing attention for the bag itself.
- In Gucci we trust -

Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a
damn. - Gore Vidal

Chiq Techniq

Work takes up a lot of our time in the weekdays. This is also the reason why we want to look our best in order to feel brilliant and perform at our best. For the travelling office chiq with a laptop, this becomes even more evident as we're used to traditional, boxy, volvo-looking, black laptop cases designed by men, for men. Naturally we're not interested in that. We want a fantastic looking laptop case that oozes style, but still has a lot of serious attitude. They are a litte bit tricky to find, but they do exist - you just have to shop around for a while...Casauri offers a large selection of different colours such as gun metal, platinum and metallic burgundy. There's tons of different models too. Lovely looking and still very simple, classy. A little bit softer but so much more attractive than the average bag. She-tech has, as the name suggests, a lot of gadgets for the conscious office chiq. The laptop cases are so gorgeous and stylish that we should almost get one, even if we don't have a laptop. Wabags and the Patrick laptop bag is a wonderful silk brochade briefcase that brings to mind a sophisticated evening bag. Very unusual. But the natural winner out of all of these laptop cases, the one that is our personal favourite, is Julien McDonald's laptop case, created as early as 2003. This bag comes in crystal white, fuchsia or black, and beats all the other cases majorly. Not inexpensive - for a steep £470 the bag is yours - but we're bound to be coolest of chiqs in the City. And this is what we want, isn't it?

Fit Fashionistas

Don't let anyone kid you, shopping is hard physical work. Whether it's your 50th shoe shop of the day, trekking around Florence, or it's the mad dash to reach the Harvey Nic's New Year sale. You have to be fit & only the fittest survive. But, it may be difficult to start up some new sports routines such as running if you don't have the luxury of having friends that will push and support you into it. Running is such a great way to keep fit as it doesn't cost a penny if you take a route through the park or a forest some where nearby. Another great benefit is that we also get to see other environments than our natural habitat, the shopping mall. We know for sure that inspiration is a key element to anything we want to achieve in life. Coolchiq's advice is -

- Drink at least half a litre of water an hour before your run.
- Carb up, i.e. eat a portion of slow burn complex carbohydrates such as cereal, pasta, whole grain rice. Eat about an hour and a half before exercise (not sooner as you may end up with a stomach cramp).
- Warm up slowly, start gentle and then speed up if you feel you can push yourself.
- Cool down and stretch for 10-15 mins.
- Little and often is best. Try to do 3 x 30 mins runs per week, rather than an hour per week.
- Run with your favourite music on your iPod/MP3 player to get better motivation.
- Visit the Adidas site, Nike or Asics to get more inspiration.
- Wear super fantastic clothes such as below....

Aprés Shopping

After a packed day's shopping it's almost compulsory to go for a celebratory glam cocktail to review the investment successes with the other coolchiqs. But why have cocktails when we can have BUBBLES! And you don't have to buy champers as there are tons of great sparkling wines out there, some of which are just as good as average Champagne. Our favourites are -

- Codorniu Brut, Nice inexpensive Spanish Cava $
- Jacobs Creek Chardonnay pinotnoir, Good Oz easy drinking $$
- Seaview - Great Oz classic in Demi Sec, Brut, & Brut de Brut (all good) $$
- Pongracz Methode Cap Classique, Superb South African bubbly - better than many Champagnes $$$
- Moet et Chandon - Old Faithfull classic - easy drinking, but can be rather sour depending upon the year $$$$
- Billecart-Salmon Brut - Label doesn't look up to much but the Champagne is The Dog's Bollocks - superb Champagne, with chocolatey after taste - served in the finest Paris hotels & coolchiq dinner tables at home. $$$$$
- What else? Freixenet $ Spanish Cava, the world's biggest selling sparkling wine & how they get the cats to sit on the bottles? Cheap shite. Bolli's always great, Krug & Dom Perignon great but overpriced $$$$$$$$$

All that glitters...

If we find these Giuseppe Zanotti's on our shopping spree tomorrow, we'll die as happy - but stylish - women.

Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of
imagination.
- Oscar Wilde

The Weekend Deal

The perfect pink shopping option for this weekend. The Adidas are so comfy that we could easily do tons of shopping malls in these shoes. The Sak bag holds the essentials; a credit card, a mobile phone and a lip gloss. Off we go!

Surf vs Shop

• Make Up Store From a company that produces such exquisite make up, it really makes us wonder why they’ve built this web site at all. Clearly Make up Store are not in the IT business, but are they in the Franchising business? Absolutely! A lot of good photos of the shop display/décor, if that’s what you’re interested in. Unfortunately we’re not.
• Face Even more amazing products, but also more expensive. This web site gives you a comforting start, looks like we’re in for a good time surfing their site. But then…..You’re stuck with their one trillion colour display (of dots!!) that re assures us the item you want to look at is really amazing. That’s not a problem if you have an electron microscope handy! No good for a coolchiq.
• Lancome Our favourite in terms of make up and beauty products. Best web site of the lot. Very complex views with lots of different choices (view the containers, the colours close up, other available colours, etc.). It’s fun looking at this site! It provides a lot of inspiration. But then again, they pioneered the Juicy Tube.
• Christian Dior Their ultra shine couleur translucide brilliance miroir sheer lip color and their auto bronzant doré are top class within the industry. At the web site, we’re welcomed by some extravagant encrusted diamond rings to illustrate that now - NOW - we’re going to have the time of our lives! That’s all very well if you have a lot of time to spend in front of your computer. You get to enjoy epic films of how to apply your lip stick, do a French manicure, or get a bewitching eye shadow look. What a great way to spend your entire Sunday!
  

I can believe anything, provided that it is quite incredible. - Oscar Wilde

LBD naturelle

Certain shoes or clothing are trendy, fun items that we use once or twice until the garment's sent to a charity shop. Other garments are timeless, cherished. We keep them for years as they look so stylish. We simply cannot get enough of these classy outfits. Owning a little black dress should be every womans right. As for coolchiq, it's the first outfit that springs to mind, when we're having to choose a favourite from a selection of classy outfits.
(LBD designers above from left to right): Victoria Royal, Betsey Johnson, Mica and A.B.S. Allen Schwartz.

I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex. -
Oscar Wilde

The Price of Silver

Coolchiq welcomes these gorgeous silver flats into her own costly but shiny shoe collection. But we seem to have entered a problem. We do not have a matching silver bag. Perhaps the Marc Jacobs purse to the right will do until then? What do you think, coolchiqs?

LBD plus...

The bohemian look provides an endless amount of inspiration. Here's a perfect choice to start off quietely in this direction. Black dress from Alex Gore. Long sleeves with wide neckline, high at the front and drapes into a cowl at the back. The slashed shawl-style sleeves, tie waist and asymmetrical hemline make it so much more than just an LBD. The small bracelet bag is from Chloe, deep red leather, embroidered with gold hardware, chunky mirrored beads and multi-colored ethnic style embroidery on the front. The Chloé Bracelet Style Handle bag can also be used with a single leather shoulder strap. Subtle but very stong!

A budget is just a method of worrying before you spend money, as well
as the letter from Amex afterwards. - coolchiq

Consultant advice needed Urgently

The most serious of crimes is that of being tasteless. Donatella is a prime example of this. With her increasing implants and her outfits, continously bordering on slut style, she's starting to look more scary than Frankenstein's sister. She may have lived a tough life, but running one of the most successful fashion houses in the world makes us expect that she should know the importance of excellent style and star appearance. Or is it true what Fred Astaire once said?

The higher up you go, the more mistakes you are allowed. Right at the top,
if you make enough of them, it's considered to be your style. – Fred
Astaire

Boho Spring

The Harrods and Barneys Girls are so spot on when they presented the bohemian shoes on their web site. We'll definitely be seeing a lot of wedges, roman leather cord sandals and textile flat shoes this spring and summer. We love the accessories from Michael Kors. A good start in the boho direction is probably investing in a gorgeous kaftan in order to achieve that eclectic look du jour. Think jet setter meets gypsy rose lee and we're close to the result.

One should either be a work of art or wear a work of art...- Oscar
Wilde

Winter Choice

It's not easy to look super fantastic and be warm. This jacket from Juicy Couture is our best choice for cold winter walks. Green lapin single breasted jacket with fairytale lining. The jacket has wide collars, triple hook fastenings on front, two pockets and a pink satin lining with a gold crest and fairytale designs on the inside. The green gloves to go are compulsory. Gloves from Coach. Why risc to look un-super fantastic?

Buddha Bar

Mingle with the rest of us, sweetie!

The Weekend Deal

Trust Le coq Sportif to give us some delissimo sneakers for the weekend. This pair is the ultimate of fun, happy, comfy - yet sofis - shoes we need for a good time striding down the mean streets of Stockholm. We like these shoes. A lot. Particularly in combination with the little Coach suede bag below. This bag is from the limited edition of Coach, so we'd better get a move on if we're intrested in this purchase.

What Gucci has in store

The Gucci runway indicates that we should be investing in a lot of haematite and gold for the spring. The divine looking gold silk scarf with tassles wrapped round the hip is a garment guaranteed we'll be seeing a lot of. It's also likely to be a heavy subject for copy cats. Any of these outfits are so versatile that one should have them all. In any colour available. Viva la Gucci!

Babe on the road

Is you're boy friend on about motor cycles and plans to hit the roads on a fast machine this summer? Fear not, fashionistas! There's plenty of collections to look like a cool-biker-chiq. Although it's a long time til the biker season's really here, you may want to be prepared for the super fantastic looks that are available. Our favourite jacket is this light pink leather jacket from Alpinestars. The brooch from Alpinestars below is a must-have to stand out from the Hells Angels. We say, biker in total control of herself!

Bering makes this biscuit coloured jacket which is very stylish. A little bit more unusual than the classic black.

For the more traditional biker chiq, we found this little black leather jacket from Alpinestars. Not only will you look like a super puma in this number, but it probably provides a rather safe protection too.

Burberry organizes...

Burberry note book. Cool, n'est-ce-pas? Imagine the jealous looks once this agenda tumbles from your hand bag!

Balenciaga spring 2005

From the Balenciaga 2005 spring collection. Poor girl, she must be very cold. Notice the happy grin! Perhaps she forgot to spray on some of the Christobal scent? Hmmh, rather her than coolchiq.

A Balenciaga bag, again from the spring 2005 collection. Consider going to work with one of them. By the looks of things it should hold a little bit more than the usual minimalistic hand bag, which is important if you want to carry your mobile phone, make up bag, agenda, book, a spare set of shoes and an apple. Ok, forget the apple.

The Manolo

The coolchiq says, the Manolo indeed is he a super fantastic asset to the womankind. The coolchiq likes the Manolo's blogs the lof of them.

Magazine finder

Rather than stressing your way through the crowd at Presstop to find an interesting magazine that you like, it's always worth having at look at tidningsbutikens selection before you decide what you want. This web based shop holds most of, if not all, the links to other net based magazine sources in Sweden. The benefit of this is that you get the opportunity to scim through the magazines in order to find out whether this is something you're interested in. It's inspiring to read about the magazines, what target group the magazine's aiming for, and general info regarding the source. You also get hints on other potentially interesting magazines in the same category. In additon to this, you get to read about newly released magazines which is good fun too.

Limitations:
- Only subscribtions, no ad hoc numbers.
- The web page gives information in Swedish only. On the other hand, this may be a benefit for lazy lingoustics.
- Available in 4 different languages - Swedish, English, French and German.
- Delivers within Sweden only.

Fair dinkum!

Next on the agenda is the fair at Älvsjömässan on 19 and 20 Februrary 2005 in which there’s 4 different themes - the shoe and bag fair, a health section, jewelries/watches/accessories, and the Rookies designer display, which I find the most interesting. The fair will show trends in this area for autumn 2005/winter 2006.
Conveniently enough, the year 2005, has been announced as the Swedish Year of Design (Designåret) in Sweden. The goal of this project, commissioned by the Swedish government, is to illustrate how design affects society. Fashion design obviously plays a vital role in the evolution of Swedish design and, hopefully, the Year of Design 2005 will, through this, establish fashion as one of Sweden’s cultural resources, in amongst the other design disciplines.

Blahnik on the horns of a dilemma

Wallpaper presents their best rated fashion accessory, which is one in the shape of a shoe horn from the one and only Manolo Blahnik. The shoe horn is described as”… disarmingly elegant and witty polished cast-aluminium shoe horn. A shoe-in for fashion accessory of the year.” Something I totally agree upon.

A shopaholic's guide to the galaxy

Wear it right where ever you may be, the "Where to wear guide". This gift set box that holds 4 pocket sized guides of what to wear whilst off and about either in London, Paris, New York or Italy.

Rules for spring 2005

We’re taught some golden rules for this spring's up coming fashion and how to manage the purchases the best way. Rule number one is never to buy clothes that don't quite fit just because they're on sale. You may feel desperate to loose some weight in January to squeeze into your outfit, but by February you'll have given up! Rule number two is to give yourself a budget and stick to that. That way you will think harder about what you need to buy, and won't get carried away by the moment. Rule number three is to look at the garment, not the label. Even the best designers do some ugly clothes! And the forth and last rule is to buy strategically. Choose clothes that will last you through into spring. With all that in mind, here are the Top 10 cross-over trends to keep an eye out for.

Vegetarian shoes...?

Yesterday Manolo wrote about some anti-brands with the purpose of expressing their dislikes for certain companies. A revolutionary Stockholm girl had set up her business with the obvious message communicated to the rest of the world that she hates J Lindeberg stuff. The other rebellion mentioned, was the shoe company Blackspot Sneaker, a company that produces ‘Converse look-a-like-shoes’ but with a sarcastic twist to it. There’s a red dot at the front of the shoe, positioned there as an indicator where Phil Knights should best get his ass kicked (Phil Knights, former CEO of Nike and the company that also runs Converse). All entertaining subjects naturally, but the thing that caught our attention in the piss take of Converse was their claim of production of shoes made out of vegetarian leather. Vegetarian leather. As interesting as this sounded, we had to do some research, and got quite a few results. Somehow the fact that it’s 2005 doesn’t quite explain why non-breathable shoes should be something desirable…albeit vegetarian. Totally bizarre, but refreshing for a good laugh.

Happy New Year!

Michael and I had a lovely night with our friends Malin, Stuart & Anton and Bettan & Joel. View some of the images here!

May 2005 be a year full of POSH TIMES!